Hello, everybody! I want to try something a little different (yes again), so this time I’m going to list off 5 things very quick from Steam and whether or not I can recommend them and why. I don’t know if I can make this into a series or not and it’ll be kinda weird because some games from Steam I’ve already rated with full reviews, but worry not! This will be more or less to give you a quick scoop on different games from my library, which is currently standing strong at 240 titles, so that you can make effective buying decisions.

I’ve been a sucker for these kinds of games since I got hooked on things like Brain Age. Okay, here’s the deal. This game is, apparently, officially endorsed by Mensa. It trains you in a variety of ways such as memory, language, visual/spatial, and so on. The mini-games get tougher overall as you continue play mode, there’s a coach mode where they allow you to focus on the individual mini-games, and when you’re ready, you can enter test mode where you take an actual mensa test.

Firstly, my score has increased since I first started playing. Second, it’s actually pretty fun and teaches you to observe patterns, learn shortcuts for faster analysis, and in general learn and comprehend things better. I still think $20 might be a bit much, but especially if you’re feeling rusty or in general you’d like to see how you stack up I.Q. wise, I’d say it’s still worth the admission price.

I can definitely recommend this title and to be honest, $20 is not out of the question when you consider it’s an effective and fun form of education that should appeal to both young and old.

Initially I wasn’t sure what to think about this one. Now…well, I’m not sure what to say. As a game, it’s really damn good. It’s a Zelda-esque rogue-like that has all kinds of fantastic elements and a steep ass difficulty. However, it’s also incredibly fucking disturbing and offensive. I seriously cannot recommend it to anyone who’s easily offended or highly religious.

All the same, it is really damn fun and quite the value at only $5. There’s also DLC now, so if you really enjoyed it the first time around, it’s worth having a second look.

After this game, I don’t think I’ll be twitch buying anything from Daedalic. Their first game on Steam, The Whispered World, really isn’t that great. The voice acting’s pretty terrible, the puzzles range from nonsense to obscure, the dialogue is also fairly terrible, and really the only one good aspect is the fact that the artwork is pretty damn good, which is what baited me in the first place.

The same thing happened with Dark Eye, which suffers from the same problems and really odd animation in general. The coup de grace, however, is Deponia, where it looks like an oldschool adventure game, the interface is great, but absolutely everything else about the game is just plain shit. I seriously cannot recommend this one for a $20 pricetag…but maybe for $10…and only if you’re a fan of their other games.

Normally I hate bullet hell titles. The idea that all oldschool shmups operated on the principle of having a ridiculous amount of bullets on the screen at once is stupid, inaccurate, and has been done to death. This one has a few nice twists, however. Firstly, it’s an alternative history title that has an oldschool look and feel. It also helps that the music REALLY kicks ass.

Second, it is…technically…a bullet hell title, but only on higher difficulties. Furthermore, the way they work you up to it is almost as though it’s a trainer for bullet hell newbies. There are several play modes, challenges, and even co-op available. With all this ridiculous amount of content they easily could’ve gotten away with a $20 pricetag, but this comes in at a mere $10.

This game is absolutely worth it and if you don’t already own it, you should totally get it right now.

I’m really conflicted on this one. On the one hand, it has a look and feel similar to that of the original Fable, which I really like. There’s a lot of customization to be had, various skills to build up, all kinds of different weapons, interesting combat mechanics, and so on. However…it also gets kinda fucking boring and repetitive fairly quickly.

I’ve not gotten far enough to see this “war” they’re talking about, but the game just lacks a certain…passion. The worst part is the pricetag. I believe I got this on sale, but currently it’s $60. It is definitely NOT worth that. $30 to $40 would be a more appropriate price, in my opinion.

Conclusion

So that’s it for my first Steam roundup. I might be making more of these, but I don’t know. It wasn’t very hard to slap together 5 quick games from my collection and give a general synopsis on them. These are games I’ve been meaning to talk about in full reviews, but in general can’t think of much more to talk about than what I’ve already said.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed these and by the way, you can click on the emboldened titles for their store page if you’re interested in buying them. Thanks for the read!